100 Lafayette Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801, www.lsumoa.org
T 225-T389-7200 F 225-389-7219
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jeff English jeff@creativeenglish.biz
225-931-6964
Walter Inglis Anderson: Everything I See Is New And Strange
August 2 – October 13, 2013
BATON ROUGE, LA— Beginning in August, the LSU Museum of Art will present
Walter Inglis Anderson’s unique observations of the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s flora,
fauna, and landscape in the exhibition Walter Inglis Anderson: Everything I See Is New
And Strange. Highlighting more than 60 watercolor and oil paintings, prints and printing
plates, pen and ink drawings, and pottery, the exhibition will be on display on the fifth
floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge August 2 through
October 13, 2013.
Walter Inglis Anderson (American, 1903-1965) illustrated the natural world vividly and
with passion. Anderson’s paintings, drawings, prints, pottery, and sculptures capture the
flora and fauna of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and continue to captivate the imaginations
of viewers over sixty years after their creation.
Born in New Orleans, Anderson studied at the Parsons School of Design, the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and art schools throughout Europe. He was familiar
with the aesthetics and ideas that influenced his contemporaries, but his passion for
nature led him away from the art centers of New York and Paris to the natural setting of
the Mississippi Gulf Coast. From the 1940s until his death in 1965, the “artist who
preferred nature to art” lived a life of solitude and discovery, making frequent trips to
Horn Island, a narrow barrier island that lies between the coast of Mississippi and the
Gulf of Mexico. Today Horn Island is preserved and protected by the Gulf Island
National Seashore. It was this natural world that most imbued his art.
Anderson lived for weeks at a time on Horn Island equipped with only artist’s tools,
paints, paper, a small boat and enough food to survive. Alone and without shelter, he
weathered the elements and several hurricanes, while keeping journals and documenting
his natural surroundings. “This morning I drew bulrushes while the flies stung,”
Anderson remarked in his journal. “Later I made a watercolor under my boat while the
rain poured. Such is the life of an artist who prefers nature to art. He really should
cultivate art more but feels his love of art will take care of itself as long as it has things to
feed upon.”
“Walter Anderson spent most of his life exploring the wonders of nature along the
Mississippi Gulf Coast,” remarks executive director, Jordana Pomeroy. “He absorbed the
environment around him, recording a fresh – and often strange – vision of the world.”
Anderson portrayed a strange and beautiful environment with a passion that resulted in
thousands of works of art. Lawrence Campbell, art critic for Art in America, recognized
Anderson as a significant southern artist, writing, “Originality merits [Anderson] an
honored place in the history of American twentieth-century art.” His significance as an
artist lies in the visual way Anderson conveyed the precarious balance of nature, a theme
that is relevant to the Gulf South today.
Walter Inglis Anderson: Everything I See Is New And Strange was developed by the
Walter Anderson Museum of Art in conjunction with the family of Walter Anderson and
is made possible in part by support from the Charles Lamar Family Fund, Louisiana
Machinery Co., The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund, and Nedra Sue Davis & Nicole
Pellitteri. For more information on supporting exhibitions, please contact Fairleigh Cook
Jackson at fairleigh@lsu.edu.
The LSU Museum of Art will also present a series of exciting educational programs
including lectures, gallery talks, art making workshops and interactive school tours for all
ages, designed to further explore the exhibition. For more information or to schedule a
tour, please contact Lucy Perera, LSU Museum of Art coordinator of school and
community programs, at lperera@lsu.edu or call 225-389-7207.
General admission to the LSU Museum of Art is $5 each for adults and children age 13
and over. Admission is free to university faculty, staff, and students with ID, children age
12 and under, and museum members. Hours of operation are Tuesday, Wednesday,
Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday
from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.lsumoa.com or call 225-3897200.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Walter Inglis Anderson (American, 1903-1965), Two Blue Crabs, c. 1960. Watercolor
on paper. From the collection of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs,
Mississippi.
Walter Inglis Anderson (American, 1903-1965), Blue Jays, c. 1960. Pottery plate. From
the collection of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
Walter Inglis Anderson (American, 1903-1965), Jerusalem Cherry, c. 1960.
Watercolor on paper. From the collection of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in
Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
Programs:
Saturday, September 14 - 10:30 a.m.
Saturday Arts for Families: ALPHABET ART.
Be inspired by Walter Inglis Anderson’s exhibition and learn about the artist’s life and
passions including his Alphabet Books. Then get to work in the ART LAB Studio
creating Alphabet Prints of your favorite Letter. Admission: $5 per child, Free to
Museum Members at Family Level.
Saturday, October 12 - 10:30 a.m.
Saturday Arts for Families: Book Art.
Be inspired by Walter Anderson’s creative vision of the animal world. Explore the
exhibition followed by a session in the ART LAB Studio creating magical watercolor
creatures. Admission: $5 per child, Free to Museum Members at Family Level.
For more information or to schedule a tour, please contact Lucy Perera, LSU Museum of
Art coordinator of school and community programs, at lperera@lsu.edu or call 225-3897207.
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